My One and Only(54)

By the look on his face, he didn’t know any such thing. “If it makes you feel better, you can believe that. For now. But I meant every word I said back there.”

A knot of apprehension tightened in Haleigh’s chest. Cooper had essentially just handed over his heart on a silver platter. If there was ever a day she wanted not to screw something up, this was it.

“Duly noted,” she said, trying to keep things light. Peeking through the branches, she braced herself. “Time to pay the piper, I guess.”

“No one will say a word,” Cooper assured her, dropping a hand to the small of her back. “And I’ll handle it if they do.”

As they stepped into the yard, Haleigh’s eyes were locked on Cooper’s face. The white knight was in full armor and ready to fight for her honor. Maybe having a hero by your side wasn’t such a bad thing after all.





Chapter 17

To say that the drive home was tense was like saying a bonfire is kind of hot.

The moment that Cooper and Haleigh stepped out of the trees, the partygoers had fallen into a collective silence. Except for Jessi and Ian, who were still wrapped up in whatever fascinating conversation they’d been conducting for the last two hours. Though reluctant to leave her alone, Cooper had eventually agreed that there was no reason for Haleigh to accompany him into the house for a new shirt.

As if that wouldn’t make the situation worse at all.

Within minutes, Abby had relayed her desire to leave. No one spoke on the way home, which afforded Haleigh much-needed time to think.

One week ago, she’d been sure that nothing would ever happen between her and Cooper. Even one day ago, Haleigh’s intentions had been in the right place. As her best friend’s brother and an incredibly upstanding guy with everything going for him, Cooper Ridgeway was without a doubt off-limits. Verboten. Absolutely no touchy.

And then she’d touched. And kissed. And felt not only beautiful and desired, but accepted and worthwhile. There were no ulterior motives with Cooper. No judgment and no impossible standards to meet. Bottom line? He liked her. He didn’t want to use her or show her off. He just liked her, and that was a rarity in her world.

Did she deserve Cooper? Of course not. But Haleigh would give anything to feel like that again. Besides, who was to say that Cooper wasn’t right about her? Maybe she wasn’t irredeemable in the grand scheme of things. Haleigh had never sold drugs to kids. Never robbed a liquor store. Heck, she’d never so much as tapped a dog with her bumper. There had been that one raccoon on a late-night drive from Memphis a few years ago, but Haleigh was pretty sure the critter had survived.

The point was, maybe she didn’t deserve him right now, but she could. Eventually. After all, if anyone could make her a better person, it was Cooper.

“I’m going to bed,” Abby said the minute they walked into the house.

“What crawled up her butt?” Jessi asked as she lowered the car seat onto the couch to unbuckle Emma. “And what was up on the way home? I’m surprised the windshield didn’t freeze over.”

Haleigh debated whether or not to spill the dirty details. Since Jessi was likely to hear them eventually, better to take the opportunity to at least let her hear Haleigh’s version first.

“When Cooper took me back to see his chickens—”

“Wait,” Jessi stopped her. “Tell me that’s a euphemism.”

“You want to hear this or not?” Haleigh asked, her patience at an end.

“Fine,” the teenager said, not bothering to hide the eye roll. “Go on.”

Dropping into a chair, Haleigh pinched the bridge of her nose as she continued. “We went into the run to give the chickens some kind of treat, and they weren’t very happy about the intrusion. One in particular scared the crap out of me, and I ended up screaming like an idiot.”

“I didn’t hear any screaming.”

“You didn’t hear anything beyond the sound of Ian’s voice from the moment you wiggled your tail in his face.”

“Excuse me,” Jessi said. “Whatever put your panties in a twist had nothing to do with me.”

Haleigh sighed. “You’re right. That was uncalled for.”

“Thank you. Now where does Abby come into the chicken story?”

“Unfortunately, she comes into it at the moment that Cooper and I were getting hot and heavy at the side of the coop. The partygoers came to see what the commotion was, and instead of finding our lifeless, chicken-pecked bodies, they stumbled upon something out of a barnyard porno movie.”

Jessi sat down next to the car seat with a sleeping Emma on her shoulder. “First of all, don’t ever use the words barnyard and porno in the same sentence again. Second, why would Abby be ticked about her brother and her best friend getting together? That’s, like, the perfect scenario. Who better to get as a new sister than your best friend?”